Friday, 26 March 2010

Flat pattern hair band

This is probably one of the simplest sewing projects ever, but I made a few miserable prototypes before arriving at it. So to spare you the same frustration: a tutorial!

Most hairband patterns I've found involve sewing two pieces of fabric together. However hard I try, I always end up with something wobbly, like this:Topstitching only seems to make it worse, so I'm not even going to show you that. I'm sure with patience it could be done neatly, but how long should a hairband take to make, really?

Another delightful thing about this hairband is that it won't mess up your bangs when you put it on, because it can be fastened at the back rather than being pushed back onto your head.

First, measure the length of the band.Draw a line for the length, and mark the middle. Decide how wide the band should be at the ends and the top. (Don't worry about seam allowances yet.) Mark the widths and join the points up.

Cut this pattern out, then trace around it onto another piece of paper. Now cut the first pattern along its mid-lines. Stick it to the edges of the new pattern, placing the long mid-line edges at the outside. Add a seam allowance all the way round, smoothing the points at the widest part.The outer edges are now longer than the middle of the pattern piece; to compensate for the wedge-shaped pieces that have been added to the widest part, take off something similar at the ends. (This doesn't have to perfect - just guess.)

Cut the pattern out of fabric. Start heating your iron up. Fold the fabric in half and sew the seam, leaving a space to turn it inside out. Leaving the gap closer to the middle makes it easier to turn.

Press the seam open so that it lies along the middle of the band. Sew the ends shut, clip the corners, and turn it inside out. Close the turning gap by hand. Sew buttons on the ends (on the right side).

This is brilliant! Thank you for sharing. I am definitely going to use this beucase at the moment the headbands I use fall apart quite quickly after I make them ...and they always fall off. Love the idea of the elastic.

Beautiful tutorial! Thank you for taking the time to put it together with such gorgeous illustrations. (One question: Have you had any trouble with hair getting tangled in the buttons? I'd hate to have to cut my 5 year old's hair out of a button. Ouch!)

Great tutorial! I struggled a bit with drawing up the pattern (but that's my fault, not yours...), but after that it was super easy! Now that I have a template I'm going to make heaps of these. Thanks!

What a great tutorial! I mentioned this tutorial on my blog (http://angelaflicker.com/2011/03/making-a-house-a-home-sewing-tutorials/), and I encouraged people to give it a try. Thanks for giving this out to people for free ;)

I love this pattern. The elastic hair tie and buttons is a fantastic idea! I don't mess up my bangs when I put the headband on and it holds it perfectly tight on my head. Thank you so much for sharing!

I love the idea but I'm confused on the pattern....do you cut the interfacing and the fabric out of the same pattern??? Is it the same size or is the interfacing smaller...also I don't understand when you say to fold the fabric in half....it doesn't quite make sense to me...wouldn't you fold each piece inward?? I'm confused lol

I didn't use interfacing for this, as the double layer of fabric seems to be stiff enough, but you could easily add a layer of interfacing. As for the folding, the end result is that you've folded each piece inward, but in order to sew the edges together,you need to fold the fabric in half so that they meet.

Just tried to make this. Totally didn't work. I'm very frustrated. I tried to follow your directions, but found them confusing. I have a big bubble in the middle and I thought I ought to cut it out (I find that picture with the triangle cut outs totally confusing) but in your pictures you didn't do that. I wish you had pictures of an actual one being made and not just drawings. I'm a total amatuer, but I HAVE made dresses and things from patterns before. Not sure what I'm missing. Really wanted this for my family pictures later today, and now I'm out of time and have to start all over. Sorry.

Oh no! I'm sorry my instructions didn't work for you. I think the clearest picture of what you should be aiming for is 5th drawing, the fabric folded in half. You could cut a piece that shape and trim the ends and go from there. The preceding ones are more or less just illustrations of my thought process, getting from the usual pattern to this one.

The bubble could be because there's too much fabric along the seam, and you could try stitching a shallower curve?